Editing 3D features

It is often useful to have features with 3D geometry. Although you can display 2D features by draping them over a surface, 3D features are displayed more rapidly, and you can share them with others without having to send along the surface data.

Editing in 3D can be done in all three ArcGIS display applications: ArcMap, ArcGlobe, and ArcScene. Three-dimensional features can be maintained during an edit session to update, create, and delete directly within their current display environment.

You can create, edit, and delete 3D features in the same way as 2D features. However, when editing height, or z-values for a feature, you will need to access the Edit Sketch Properties dialog box, which exposes the z-values for each vertex in the geometry.

You can also digitize new features over a surface and interpolate the features' z-values from the surface during digitizing. The 3D Editor toolbar in ArcGlobe or ArcScene contains the collection of tools needed in order to edit your 3D data.

Note:

• Interactive editing of annotation feature layers is not supported as part of the 3D editing experience in ArcGlobe.

To learn more about starting and stopping a 3D edit session, see Starting and stopping a 3D edit session.